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  The Potential for Dayton, Ohio, to Become a Human Rights City: A Look at SDG 3

  Alyssa Marie Miller

  One of the biggest takeaways from attending UD is learning about a wide range of social justice issues in the world and how they connect to Dayton. Gathering data to strengthen the possibility of Dayton becoming a Human Rights City gives me the experience and confidence in effectively participating in social justice issues beyond the Dayton area.

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  The Role of Father Involvement and Neighborhood Disadvantage on Children’s Developmental Outcomes

  Sebastian Jose Maldonado

  A positive father-child relationship is thought to make a significant impact on multiple domains of child and adolescent development. According to previous research by Keown and colleagues (2018), fathers’ involvement in children’s lives can help promote positive child and adolescent outcomes. Neighborhood conditions have also been found to be a predictor of children’s developmental outcomes. This study focuses on how father involvement as well as the neighborhood environment are related to children’s social and emotional well-being. The current study hypothesized that a positive father-child relationship will predict better child outcomes, especially in disadvantaged neighborhood environments. Hypotheses will be tested using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth - 1979.

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  The Role of Propionate During the Interactions Between Macrophages and Listeria monocytogenes

  Leah Allen, Stephanie Johnson

  The human gut microbiome is recognized as an important contributor to human health. The functional roles of the gut microbiome are under active investigation to increase our knowledge in human biology and develop novel therapeutics. For example, gut microbes produce short chain fatty acids (SCFAs), which have demonstrated regulatory and nutritional functions in the intestines and peripheral organs. However, how SCFAs contribute to defense against infectious diseases is less understood. Therefore, the overarching goal of our research is to determine the roles of SCFAs during host-pathogen interactions. More specifically, we are investigating how exposure to propionate, a key SCFA found in humans, affects the outcome of Listeria monocytogenes infections in macrophages. L. monocytogenes is an opportunistic pathogen transmitted through contaminated food. In high risk individuals, infections may become life-threatening. One unique aspect of L. monocytogenes that allows the bacterium to act as a human pathogen is its ability to grow inside macrophages without elimination by the antimicrobial arsenal deployed by the macrophages. Therefore, strategies that can compromise the bacterial intracellular growth or strengthen the antimicrobial capacity of macrophages can potentially protect individuals from L. monocytogenes infections. In this study, we investigated how propionate affects nitric oxide production, phagocytic activity, and elimination of intracellular L. monocytogenes in a cell culture model of infection. We found that propionate-treated macrophages, compared to non-treated controls, exhibited a significantly higher phagocytic activity. Moreover, activated macrophages produced decreasing levels of nitric oxide after exposure to increasing levels of propionate. Finally, the presence of propionate during infection resulted in a significantly lower intracellular bacterial numbers. Together, these results suggest that the presence of propionate can alter macrophage functions that lead to restriction of L. monocytogenes intracellular growth, an observation that will need to be further investigated to develop strategies to protect individuals from L. monocytogenes infections.

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  The Shipwreck of the W.R. Hanna: The Significance of Scow Schooners in Lake Erie following the War of 1812

  Cassady Calder

  Lake Erie is not commonly known for its shipwrecks, yet it is one of the most shipwreck dense areas in the world, and many of the wrecks remain undiscovered. This poster session will present research that was conducted for the Ohio History Connection on the shipwreck of the W.R. Hanna. This research was in anticipation of attempting to register the wreck with the National Registry of Historic Places. The session will cover what makes the wreck of the W.R. Hanna significant as well as discuss its contributions to industry on Lake Erie. Small lake-shoring craft, while less dramatic and famous than their larger counterparts, were more important to the economy of Ohio after the release of British control on the lakes following the war of 1812. These smaller crafts deserve their places in the annals of history and this research speaks to their value in the landscape of the Great Lakes.

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  The Sustainable Development Goals: What Do They Mean for Dayton, Ohio?

  Jessica Caroline Minichillo

  The Sustainable Development Goals seem unattainable and out of reach when just looking at them through a broad lens. After narrowing my scope and localizing many of these goals to Dayton, I was able to see where steps are being made/need to be made. Each of these goals is interconnected, and in order to see improvement in Dayton’s human rights, it is essential to find these connections within our own community. Eradicating poverty does not merely start by helping the poor, but by discovering systematic reasons behind the poverty experienced by different groups.

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  The Truth About Deception: How Social Awareness Affects Deception Detection

  Bridget Allen, Kelly Boris, Faith Plummer

  Dr. Susan Davis, Kelly Boris, Faith Plummer, & Bridget Allen The Truth About Deception: How Social Awareness Affects Deception Detection According to Ulatwski (2013), the wording of a question can bias someone’s perception of another person. The present research focuses on the differences between indirect and direct questioning in affecting a person’s ability to detect deception. Our first hypothesis is that indirect questioning as compared to direct questioning of an interviewee's dishonest responses will produce more accurate determinations of dishonesty (see Brinke et al., 2016). Data we have gathered thus far have supported this hypothesis. Female and male college students viewed four different videos of student actors giving either truthful or deceitful responses to an interviewer. The participants responded to questionnaires designed to determine the participants’ perception of the actors’ honesty. Our second hypothesis is that social awareness plays a role in the ability to accurately detect facial and body language cues related to deception. Sheldon (1996) has defined social awareness as an ability to understand others’ emotions and respond to their body language and facial expressions. Participants in this research study completed the Social Awareness Inventory (SAI) developed by Sheldon. There was a positive correlation between accurate deception detection and performance on the SAI. Despite the advantage that social awareness added to accurate detection, participants were highly overconfident in their abilities to correctly determine deception.

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  The Yellow Banana Paradox: Surveys and Interviews exploring Chinese Adoptees’ Identities

  Ali Tomayko

  In 1979 China created the One Child Policy in fear of overpopulation. Due to this law, families with more than one child would be forced to give up their second child or their daughters for adoption. Couples outside of the U.S. who could not get pregnant or wanted to adopt, had an opportunity to adopt babies from China. As a result the Chinese adoptees’ identities would be influenced by the adoptive country’s culture. As a Chinese adoptee, my own experiences and identities were strongly influenced by living and being raised in a white culture in the United States. I was able to reconnect with my fellow Chinese friends who were affected by this policy. I begin with the history of Chinese adoption, and previous research on adoptees’ identities. This study was accomplished by conducting 20 surveys and nine interviews. The questions asked were on how race/ethnicity, culture, and life experiences had an influence on the participant’s identities. During surveys and interviews, many of the participants expressed excitement about having this opportunity to tell their truths about living and being raised in a White culture while looking Chinese. It is important for my participants to share their stories because it adds more and different perspectives on the effects adoption has on their identities. Even though the One Child Policy in China ceased in 2015; international, trans racial, and domestic adoption will still continue to happen. Understanding how adoptees’ identity form and are influenced through their race, ethnicity and culture is important for them to understand and accept who they are in society.

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  Turning Dayton, Ohio, into a Human Rights City

  Alex M. Mueller

  This project forced me to view human rights standards, particularly the UN SDGs with a localized perspective. As the SDGs serve as a global blueprint that applies to every country, I commonly view them though an international lense. Conducting this research challenged me to view and then analyze them with a local perspective and see how they can be applied at the local level. In doing this, I gained a better understanding that for international human rights standards to be most fully normalized and advanced, they must be prioritized at every level of governance.

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  Understanding Chemolithotrophic Reduction Mechanisms from the Dark Marine Biosphere

  Anna Gwendolyn Blair

  As greenhouse gas emissions contribute to global warming and an increase in CO2 concentration in the earth’s atmosphere, the scientific community is under pressure not just to examine new technologies to reduce emissions, but also to consider the effect that increased CO2 concentration has on our terrestrial and marine ecosystems. In marine ecosystems, atmospheric CO2 dissolves and reacts with water to form carbonic acid. This diprotic acid then dissociates, contributing to a lowered pH of ocean water and affecting all levels of marine life. Fortunately, nature already has carbonate reduction mechanisms in place that can reduce the harmful effects of ocean acidification. Being able to identify individual bacteria in biological carbonate-fixing consortia can lead to adaptive systems engineered around biofilms. In this study, environmental samples taken from defined sites the dark marine biosphere (ocean depth of 2100-2300 meters) in the Gulf of Mexico will be grown in a number of selective medias with defined carbonate contents. Bacterial samples will then be analyzed using ion chromatography to measure carbonate consumption as a function of time. The data collected thus far suggests that by selectively pressuring environmental consortia from the dark marine biosphere toward the purpose of fixing carbon, mechanisms and pathways can be generated to control the level of CO2 in the marine environment.

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  UNet-based Deep Neural Network for 3D Lung Segmentation

  Dhaval Dilip Kadia

  The recent developments in the field of Medical Imaging, Deep Learning, is a crucial technology to accelerate medical tasks and perform them precisely and automatically. 3D lung segmentation has a significant role in removing the unnecessary volume of 3D CT scans and segments the actual volume of the lungs in three dimensions, to simplify the 3D CT scan for further tasks. Recently, the deep learning network such as U-Net and its variants provides excellent results for biomedical image segmentation. We propose a novel deep neural network architecture based on UNet, for the 3D lung segmentation task. The proposed model helps learn spatial dependencies in 3D and increases the propagation of volumetric information. We have investigated our network with different architectural modules, learning strategy, activation functions, optimizers, loss functions, and appropriate hyperparameters. Our proposed deep neural network is trained on the publicly available dataset - LUNA16 and achieves state-of-the-art performance on the VESSEL12 dataset and the testing set of LUNA16.

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  Use of LU Factorization in Solving a Real-World Problem

  Zahra Hussain Al Muhaisin

  We applied the LU factorization to find the temperature distribution in a two dimensional flat rectangular metallic plate. The temperatures on the boundary are known and the interior temperature distribution will be determined. The problem will require solving a linear system: Ax = bThis system can also be solved by finding the inverse of A. However, we will show that for this problem, the LU factorization technique is more suitable.

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  Using a Genetic Mouse Model to Investigate the Role of Calcium Signaling in Mouse Behavior

  Aikaterini Britzolaki, Ben Klocke

  Ca2+ is a critical second messenger for a constellation of cellular processes, and neuronal Ca2+ signaling is no exception. Indeed, disruption of neuronal Ca2+ homeostasis has been implicated in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders. Our lab has recently identified a potential new player in the neuronal Ca2+ toolkit that is expressed in the brain. Strikingly, mice that do not express this gene (KO) present a hyperactive phenotype as compared to their wild-type (WT) counterparts. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms by which this phenotype manifests itself are unknown. Thus, in the context of the current project, we employed high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and state-of-the-art electroencephalography (EEG) techniques to investigate the neurochemical systems and cortical rhythms that are affected by constitutive loss of this gene in mice. Indeed, our results show that KO mice exhibit neurochemical noradrenergic alterations in key brain regions associated with the pathophysiology of many neuropsychiatric disorders. Further, these mice show alterations in cortical rhythms during sleep. Overall, these data support a mechanistic role for this protein in regulating mouse behavior.

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  Using Infectious Disease Models to Study Gang Activity Through Computational Mathematics

  Allison Lenhardt, Hana Tinch

  Gang activity shows a similar pattern to infectious diseases which can be modelled using nonlinear differential equations. Using the model of infectious diseases, predictions can be made to relate gang interactions with the population and the recruitment of new gang members. By manipulating personal interaction, conviction, recidivism, and jail time, awareness of which combination of factors results in the least amount of gang activity can lead to preventative measures to see how to best minimize gang activity. We study this model using numerical solutions of systems of differential equations.

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  Using RNA-interference to Identify the Genetic Toolkit for a Fruit Fly Morphological Trait

  Jesse Taylor Hughes, Jenna Rose Rock

  Metazoan animal morphological traits result from the combined inputs of hundreds or more genes that comprise gene regulatory networks (GRNs). Each GRN utilizes various genes from the genetic toolkit of transcription factor and signaling pathway genes to control complex patterns of gene expression. However, for few traits, if any, has the full repertoire of toolkit genes been characterized for its GRN. Thus, how traits are built by regulated gene expression remains poorly understood. Here we are investigating the genetic toolkit that makes a male-specific pigmentation pattern for the fruit fly species Drosophila (D.) melanogaster. Using RNA-interference, we reduce the expression of ~588 transcription factor genes to find those necessary for the development of this trait by surveying for deviant pigmentation phenotypes. We uncovered 35 novel transcription factors involved in the development of male-limited pigmentation in D. melanogaster. Future work will focus on elucidating how each of these genes is expressed within the fruit fly abdomen as well as where each gene fits within the Drosophila pigmentation network.

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  Vatican II War and Peace

  John W. Ruff

  Vatican II was the most recent ecumenical council that has been conducted within the Catholic Church. One of the most common said phrases in describing this council is that this council “updated church teachings to match the signs of our time”. Indeed, something did happen at Vatican II; many things did. A prevalent theme found within world culture around the time period of Vatican II was war. This makes sense particularly because Vatican II took place following world war II. The council did address this issue of war and peace, in one of their constitutions, Guadium et Spes. Within this presentation, I will address and analyze what Vatican II said in Guadium et Spes about war. Secondly, I will conduct an analysis on the progression of the Church’s teaching on war and peace throughout history while focusing on the Church’s peacemaking stance. Next, I will analyze the option/viewpoint of the possibility of the other argument, the argument for the legitimacy of war. Finally, I will compare and contrast the two points of views.

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  Visual Elements of an Effective Elementary Classroom

  Danielle Villhard

  Integrating interdisciplinary studies in Education and Visual Arts, this Visual Arts senior capstone project explores the visual experience in elementary schools, from the physical classroom setup to individual elements (posters, signage, etc.). With emphasis on color, subject matter, interactivity, and space, this project combines research on classroom setting and material design, patterns of effective teaching, best practices for elementary education, color theory, and color psychology. The project cumulated in a scale model of a classroom that implements elements of the research and offers one example of the research in practice.

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  Voting Rights in Dayton and Beyond: The Seminar in US History

  Adam James Boehnlein, Caelan Caelum Danbury, Seth Michael Dirkse DeWitt, Meghan E. Hahn, Kevin Walter McDougal, Caroline Anne Waldron, Adam Thomas West, Emilee Kay Zoog

  The papers on this panel focus on voting rights and "voice" as a vital piece of democratic ideas and practice. Based in original archival research, the HST485 Seminar cohort will discuss their findings about UD students and faculty and community members in the greater Miami Valley who responded to conditions that restricted democratic practices. These groups participated in women's suffrage and teen voting campaigns; they created inclusive institutions for justice, like the Urban League and American Federation of Teachers locals; and they supported those fighting for political autonomy and rights in Ireland and elsewhere.

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  Water Supply & Treatment Filter Air Binding Study

  Shadayah Kabre Lawrence

  The primary focus of my research is to understand what iscausing air bubbles, through air binding in the Water Supply and Treatments filtration system.Air binding is the clogging of a filter as a result of the presence of air released from water. Aircan prevent the passage of water during the filtration process causing a high loss of head and alower service time for the filter. It is hypothesized that the air binding issue is due to a low piperetention time as well as an excess amount of carbon dioxide. There are a few known causes ofair binding such as ozonation, Carbon Dioxide addition, hypochlorite, thermal warming etc.

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  Weaponization of the Socialist Label in Modern American Politics

  Matt Oliver Schubert

  This thesis studied the attitude of people in the United States toward the idea of socialism. The first section of my thesis examined how people define socialism, and whether there is any definition that is common among a large group of people. It also looked to see if this definition was different than their definition of democratic socialism. The next section addressed people’s support of a bill or political candidate identified as a socialist. The goal was to see if people would be willing to support a candidate or bill with socialist ideas, but shy away when they see the word “socialist.” The effects of this label were then examined across party lines to see if it had differentresults among Democrats and Republicans.

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  "Weekends Across Town" An analysis of current parental divorce resources and effectiveness

  Jimmy Edward Nagai

  Children that have experienced divorces in their lifestyle can sometimes have worse outcomes due to lack of communication between the parties, a vicious or damaging divorce, or lack of involvement with one or both adult parties in their lives. This literature review will examine some of the current practices in the field and evaluate their effectiveness with different strategies, including non-residential visitation periods, more positive divorce proceedings, or giving adequate attention towards the children in these turbulent times.

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  “When you’re done… you’re still part of our family:” An Exploration of Gendered Scripts and Relationships in Prison Reentry Programs

  Ruthey Schultz

  Historically, the U.S. prison population has been comprised of mostly men. As the number of offenders who are women rises, social services have been tasked with addressing the needs of returning citizens with an increasing focus on gender. Past research has largely focused on gender specific needs within the criminal justice system itself. This project explores perceptions of gender in reentry among social service workers, which will demonstrate how gender is conceptualized and reproduced within these services. I conducted 18 interviews with social service workers to ask about their perceptions on gender in reentry and how their organizations interact with gender. Social service workers often reported diverse gender needs in terms of external barriers such as trauma, community perceptions, social support, and parenting responsibilities. These findings reveal gender reproduction and interactions within the context of reentry and analyze how gender identity intersects with an “ex-offender” status.

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  Where You Are and What You Know: impact of Location and Education on Individual Engagement with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals

  Emily Sandstrom

  The United Nations created the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to include 17 goals and 169 targets that foster ongoing environmental, social, and global economic development and aiming to accomplish each goal by 2030. There has been considerable enthusiasm in various sectors since the SDGs have been in place; however, there is still a significant amount of work to be done to engage experts and young scholars (the future experts) in the SDGs. According to Salvia, Filho, Brandli, & Griebeler, 2019, researchers at institutions of higher learning from around the globe found a relation between locality and research, though questions remain concerning the role vocation and locality play in determining one’s predilection for a given SDG. This project analyzes individual rankings of the SDGs by comparing responses from college students interested in environmental sciences and academic and field professionals engaged in environmental work or research.

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  Working Towards Global Goals by Partnering with Local Community Organizations through the Semester of Service Program

  Victoria Boehlert-Somohano, Mary Charleton, Dana Kieft, Kayla Kingston, Michelle Smith, Carter Spires

  Students in the Spring 2020 Semester of Service program are currently taking a sabbatical from traditional courses and working full-time with a local community organization. During this presentation, students will share more about the work they are doing at their placement sites and how the work of those organizations are contributing to the UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Come hear more about the work being done at Adventure Center, ABLE Law, Brunner Literacy, County Corps, Dayton Children's Hospital, the Dakota Center, the Dayton Foodbank, and Homefull.

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  World Development Applied Locally

  Ryan Darnell Scott

  Working on this project has given me a better understanding of how human rights work can fit into our daily lives. Very often we think of human rights or international treaties as something that is above us; we do not directly see how they shape the world around us. Through this project, I have not only learned how these entities play into my life as a student in Dayton, Ohio, but I have also learned how they can be used to mobilize communities through comprehensive advocacy plans. Coming out of this experience, I now see the connection between international work and local efforts and have a better understanding of the role I can play in shaping my community for the better.

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  "You Don't Understand... It's Not About Virginity": Sexual Markets, Identity Construction, and Violent Masculinity on an Incel Forum Board.

  Josh Segalewitz

  The manosphere refers to the online collection of antifeminists and men’s rights activists. It represents one way technology allows for interactions in new, digital social networks. Incels, short for involuntary celibates, interact in this space and have been labeled as extreme misogynists, white supremacists, and domestic terrorists. I engage with popular sociological theories of masculinity (including hegemonic, hybrid, and inclusive masculinities) to analyze dominant discourses on the website incels.is. The data for this project include comments from 100 threads randomly sampled from 4,532 total threads posted in 2018. Through grounded coding methodology, I identify the importance of navigating threatened masculinity online, particularly with respect to sexuality. Further, I find that incel ideology rests on the creation of sexual hierarchies that emphasize perceived attractiveness. Finally, I explore the debates within this space over who is able to claim membership and how borders of the space are policed. In its entirety, this study reveals how marginalized men may respond to and reproduce gendered hierarchies.